Healthy Sones returns to form

December 13, 2013

HUGHESVILLE - Following a disappointing Top Hat tournament last weekend, Steve Budman made a point to stand next to Hughesville 120-pounder Trevor Sones at practice Monday and see how the sophomore responded.

Sones battled sickness for both days of the Top Hat and at times was sloppy or just trying to do too much. Budman wanted to get Sones to slow down with what he was doing on the mat.

Thursday night it paid off as Sones picked up an early technical fall in Hughesville's 49-25 win over Central Columbia in the dual-meet opener for both teams.

Sones looked far more like the District 4 sixth-place finisher he was a year ago last night, as opposed to the wrestler who finished fifth at the Top Hat last weekend. He scored eight points in the first period and finished his 16-0 technical fall in 3 minutes, 57 seconds.

"I feel 10 times better than I did at Top Hat. Tonight was a completely different story than over the weekend," Sones said. "I threw up after my second match (at the Top Hat). I was going through that kind of stuff. It wasn't healthy."

Sones was more simplified last night when he was in control, as well. He found an opening and exploited it for what he could.

He hit a tight cradle in the first period for three points, and got three more with a half-nelson before the buzzer sounded. After reversing to start the second period, he used a tilt for three points and got three more with another half-nelson.

"At the Top Hat he looked like he was trying to do 10 pinning combinations at the same time," said Budman, Hughesville's head coach. "Tonight he looked very crisp and very sharp on top doing his stuff. I was very happy to see that."

"It was big. I knew we needed some points from the get-go. I wrestled my match and went out and won," Sones said. "When I knew I got the tech fall, I was a little upset not to get the fall, but I guess a tech fall is good enough."

Against an undermanned Central Columbia team which forfeited four weights, the tech fall was good enough. It was also one of eight bonus-point wins for Hughesville.

Robert White (170 pounds) and Dakota Gee (220) both picked up falls, and Houston Bryant earned a technical fall at 145 with a physical performance.

Zach Fry earned his second win over Central Columbia's Steve Shannon in less than a week, and this one may have been even more impressive than his 6-2 win in the Top Hat finals on Saturday. The returning state qualifier was locked in a 1-0 dual before capitalizing on a third-period opening to finish a 3-0 win.

Fry was in deep twice on Shannon in the first period, but Shannon, a returning district qualifier, funked out of both takedown attempts, once nearly turning a Fry shot into a takedown of his own.

After Fry escaped from bottom early in the second period, the bout became a bit of a standoff on their feet with Fry not wanting to give Shannon an opportunity to again counter a shot, and Shannon not having an opening to take a shot.

It wasn't until there were 44 seconds left in the bout that Fry dropped from his Russian tie and wrapped both of Shannon's ankles as the two went out of bounds. Fry kept both feet in bounds to score a clinching takedown.

"If you open up wide open against Steve Shannon, you can find yourself down by eight points pretty quick," Budman said. "He is one of the craftiest wrestlers that I have been around. Zach is a smart wrestler. Most wrestlers would keep taking shots and taking shots. I think Zach went through that phase when they wrestled last year. But he's smarter now."